Agreed, Brit. This is cruel. He was on his way to owning Minn on that day. Since then, the 14 inning affair with Sox had to put him in the back back end of pen and get the loss. That kind of stuff can just mess a guy up.

We are where we are due to rain. That's a shame. I wish every stadium looked like Miller Park or Minute Maid. In fact, Minnesota blew my mind when they developed Target Field. Why would you NOT want a retractable roof in Minneapolis? Being as you get 2.5 months of decent weather, you'd think it be deemed imperative.

If I have to watch Valbuena have another horrible at bat, I swear I am going to throw something. There has never been another player that has made me as upset as him. I honestly get infuriated when I remember that he gets to play in the major leagues. He is the worst professional baseball player in the game.

Andrew, who would win a duel between Danny Graves pitching to Valbuena?

This game is gonna get ugly. I guess it's Huff just not able to have a sub 1 ERA forever. BUT he looks awful right now; throwing batting practice and missing targets all in one. He's going to be at 60 pitches when this inning is over.

British_Pharaoh wrote:So long playoff contention. After tomorrow we will be 4.5 out and since we are struggling to win a series these days (especially on the road) or string 3 wins together I don't see us overcoming this.

TribeinLA wrote:Andrew, who would win a duel between Danny Graves pitching to Valbuena?

I think that the shear suckiness of the matchup would make every human beings head explain so it wouldn't matter. However I give the advantage to Graves for one reason: Although every pitch would be nowhere near the strike zone, Valbuena would still swing because he is awful. So in the battle of the All-Suck team, advantage Graves.

British, I know nothing at all about soccer. Everytime I see your avatar, I cannot help to think that whoever that is in the photo is Justin Timberlake getting out of a 3 hour long tanning bed session.

British is right about one thing. This team cannot get a solid win streak going at all. If we could win 4-5 in a row just once more, I'd feel good bc this is the AL Central. We get 2 and that's it these days.

Avila is easily the best hitter this month in AL. I cannot think of a hotter hitter over the last 2 weeks. He's another example of why drafting players who come from the SEC are going to be well-invested (ala Gordon Bekham, Todd Walker, and our own Tony Sipp. Just one problem...La Porta is an SEC guy. Ooops).

Yeah, I see the same vibe. Much different than when Det was visiting us last week and everyone seemed very excited and pumped -- especially when Ubaldo was pitching. We're going to need to win tomorrow and then destroy Wedge's machine. You're going to have bad games here and there of course, but the pennant chasing swagger and Us vs. The World mentality just doesn't seem to be there. Something just isn't right.

I would normally turn the game off at this point but I am going to watch til end and see what this team's gonna do to fight. I saw it opening day and other points...it's something about this particular lineup. I cannot pinpoint, but a lot is missing and lost.

TribeinLA wrote:Yeah, I see the same vibe. Much different than when Det was visiting us last week and everyone seemed very excited and pumped -- especially when Ubaldo was pitching. We're going to need to win tomorrow and then destroy Wedge's machine. You're going to have bad games here and there of course, but the pennant chasing swagger and Us vs. The World mentality just doesn't seem to be there. Something just isn't right.

Perhaps Orlando Cabrera brought some kind of a "veteran leadership", although from what I heard, was also an ass. Could use him instead of Luis. Oh well.

Something isn't right and it's bugging the hell outta me. Team needs to start giving a shit.

andrew6586 wrote:If I have to watch Valbuena have another horrible at bat, I swear I am going to throw something. There has never been another player that has made me as upset as him. I honestly get infuriated when I remember that he gets to play in the major leagues. He is the worst professional baseball player in the game.

I used to feel that way about Marte. In fact I told someone (maybe posted it here?) that Valbuena was going to be this year's Marte. I take that back. 2011 Valbuena <<< 2010 Marte. Sure hope Valbie's gone by the end of this season. Right now his BA wishes it could see the Mendoza line. Paaaaathetic!

I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.~~~Annie Savoy-"Bull Durham"

Hmmm, getting tougher to win that World Series this year. On the other hand this group (what's not on/has been on the DL) wasn't supposed to be experienced enough to compete until next year. As long as the guys don't become disheartened with stumbling against the division opponents I consider this a real proving ground for next year's team. But like some of you who see the game mentioned these guys need to get that fight back in their eyes.

I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.~~~Annie Savoy-"Bull Durham"